In the previous episode, we had witnessed a different way through which the “Govardhana Leela” of Bhagawan Bala-Krishna could be viewed. Although Indra’s folly is quite evident in the way he exhibited his arrogance towards Bhagawan Bala-Krishna, one way of looking at it is that, by doing so, Indra performed the “Govinda-Pattabhisheka” for Bhagawan Bala-Krishna. This is a significant event because, Bhagawan Krishna never had any sort of a grand “Pattabhisheka” henceforth, even though He was the king of Mathura for a short duration after the demise of Kamsa, and also the king of Dwaraka henceforth. Hence, if we look at it in this way, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna was crowned a leader even during His childhood days. The divine names of “Govinda” and “Gopala” are exclusively meant for Bhagawan Bala-Krishna which signifies that He’s the leader of the entire cow community. We’ve seen this earlier too as to how Bhagawan Bala-Krishna drew all the cows around Him with His divine flute. Thus, this “Govinda-Pattabhisheka” assumes a lot of significance.
Moving on thus, when we had discussed Bhagawan Bala-Krishna’s flute playing, I had missed out mentioning an important point pertaining to it. We’ve witnessed this important question previously – Why did Bhagawan Bala-Krishna play the flute? We’ve seen that music is one of the most divine and easiest ways through which we can get closer to Bhagawan. But there’s an offshoot to this entire discussion. We might wonder why Bhagawan Bala-Krishna isn’t singing through His mouth, and why is He using an instrument to propagate His divine music to the world? This is a very important question for us to understand here. This might sound a bit silly outwardly, but there is a deeper spiritual meaning to it. Bhagawan Bala-Krishna, by playing the flute, is using the flute as “medium” to propagate His divine music. This “medium” is what we refer to in our Sanaatana Dharma quite often as the “Guru”. Bhagawan’s “Upadesha” (Teachings) shouldn’t come directly from Him. They should come through an intermediate medium called the “Guru”. Only then we would be able to get the essence of what Bhagawan wants to convey.
For instance, why do we have a filter in the middle, when we’ve to obtain water for drinking and cooking purposes at home? If we draw the water directly from the pipe, we might have many impurities in it, isn’t it? So as to clear those impurities and get the pure form of water, we have a “medium” in between called the filter. Of course, I’m not saying that Bhagawan’s divine teachings would be impure. I gave this example of a water filter just for our understanding. Let us not bring this example to Bhagawan. The point here is that, through the flute, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna is driving home the importance of a “Guru” or the “Spiritual Master”. We should always remember that even if we’ve to approach Bhagawan for anything, we shouldn’t directly go to Him. We should always go to Him through the Guru. I’ve spoken about this important point many times in the past, under many occasions. We’ve also seen this point during our Ramayana project as to how Hanuman was considered as the “Guru” who played the perfect mediating role in between Mother Sita and Bhagawan Rama. Thus, the Guru is someone who serves as a bridge between the Jeevatma and the Paramatma, and helps the Jeevatma in attaining the highest “Moksha”, which is in turn referred to as attaining the divine feet of the “Paramatma” (Bhagawan).
We might have a counter question in mind here – Why shouldn’t we directly go to Bhagawan? What would happen if we bypass the Guru and approach Bhagawan? This is exactly what we saw during the Bhagawad Gita – While listening to it, Arjuna was totally confused! 🙂 In fact, the entire Gita-Upadesha began with a note of clearing Arjuna’s confusion. However, after hearing the full Bhagawad Gita, did Arjuna come out of his confusion? The answer is a big “NO”! 🙂 The fact is that his confusion only increased further! Thus, if we go to Bhagawan directly, He wouldn’t like it that much. Hence, He would make sure that He confuses us to the extent that we would have no other option but to go to a Guru to clear it off! For instance, now all of us are witnessing this “Shri Vishnu Puraana” text for the past 195 days or so. We’re witnessing how clearly and beautifully Sage Paraashara is explaining things. We’ve similarly witnessed Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana before this. We’ve again seen how clearly Sage Shukachaarya had explained things. However, if we’ve to sit down to understand the Bhagawad Gita in this way, it is going to be very confusing for us, with the way Bhagawan Krishna had explained things. In fact, Bhagawan Krishna has also explained the same thing in the Gita, which Sage Shukaachaarya and Sage Paraashara had explained. However, if this message comes from the “Gurus” like Sage Shukaachaarya, Sage Paraashara, Alwars, Aachaaryas, etc., the clarity that emerges is more than when it comes directly from Bhagawan. This is why we require the presence of a “Guru” or the “Spiritual Master”.
Thus for today, let us understand the importance of this “Guru”, through the medium of the divine musical instrument called flute. Thus, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna played the flute, because He employed the flute as a “Guru” (A divine intermediary) to propagate the fact that music is one of the best ways to get closer to Bhagawan. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 